The Housemaid is Watching – Book Review

Title:- The Housemaid is Watching

Author:- Freida McFadden

Date published:- June 11th 2024

No. of pages:- 364 pages

Genre:- Psychological Thriller

Rating:-

Plot:- 4/5

Writing:- 4/5

Overall rating:- 4/5

“You must be our new neighbors!” Mrs. Lowell gushes and waves across the picket fence. I clutch my daughter’s hand and smile back: but the second Mrs. Lowell sees my husband a strange expression crosses her face. In that moment I make a promise. We finally have a family home. My past is far, far behind us. And I’ll do anything to keep it that way…

I used to clean other people’s houses—now, I can’t believe this home is actually mine. The charming kitchen, the quiet cul-de-sac, the huge yard where my kids can play. My husband and I saved for years to give our children the life they deserve.

Even though I’m wary of our new neighbor Mrs. Lowell, when she invites us over for dinner it’s our chance to make friends. Her maid opens the door wearing a white apron, her hair in a tight bun. I know exactly what it’s like to be in her shoes.

But her cold stare gives me chills…

The Lowells’ maid isn’t the only strange thing on our street. I’m sure I see a shadowy figure watching us. My husband leaves the house late at night. And when I meet a woman who lives across the way, her words chill me to the bone: Be careful of your neighbors.

Did I make a terrible mistake moving my family here?

I thought I’d left my darkest secrets behind. But could this quiet suburban street be the most dangerous place of all?

I think this is like the fourth Freida McFadden book I have read this year, eighth in total. This is the third and maybe final book of the Housemaid series.

Millie Accardi and her husband Enzo buys a dream house in the suburb and moves into the house. They meet some new neighbors, Mrs. Lowell who seem to be flirtatious towards Enzo and Janice, who seems to be spying on all the neighbors. Millie is trying to move on with her new life. But things change when Enzo hires Lowell’s maid name Martha who was caught stealing by Millie and who Enzo seems to be taking side of. Nico, Millie’s youngest son also changes, getting into fights in school which was unlike f her son. Enzo seems to be hanging out more with Mrs. Lowell. Then Millie’s life turn upside down again when Mr. Lowell was found brutally murdered and Enzo was the main suspect.

This wasn’t great as the first two book of the Housemaid series. But just like all McFadden books, the story is fast paced, page turner and intriguing, even though the actually story doesn’t really start until towards the middle of the book. You get the POVs of Millie as well as Millie’s twelve year old daughter Ada. The ending of the book again was completely unexpected. Nonetheless, I hope this will be the last book of the Housemaid series.

Overall this book is worth four stars

Darling Girls – Book Review

Title:- Darling Girls

Author:- Sally Hepworth

Date published:- April 23rd 2024

No. of pages:- 368 pages

Genre:- Thriller

Rating:-

Plot:- 4/5

Writing:- 5/5

Overall rating:- 4.5/5

A thrilling page-turner by the New York TimesThe Soulmate, Sally Hepworth, about sisters, secrets, love and murder.

It’s not just secrets buried at Wild Meadows.

For as long as they can remember, Claudia, Margo and Jackie have been told how lucky they are. Rescued from family tragedies and raised by a loving foster mother on an idyllic farming estate, they were given an elusive second chance for a happy family life.

But their childhood wasn’t the fairy tale everyone thinks it was. And when a body is discovered under the home they grew up in, these three foster sisters find themselves thrust into the spotlight as key witnesses. Or are they prime suspects?

With darkly comic timing and insidiously twisting plots, Sally Hepworth’s novels are guaranteed to keep you turning the pages . . .

This was a fantastic thriller and an unputdownable thriller book as well!

Norah, Jessica and Alicia are sisters but not biologically related. They used to live under the same foster house, run by Miss Fairchild and each of the girls were mistreated by Miss Fairchild. Now twenty years later, each of them are moving on with their own lives until the police call them. The house where they lived with Miss Fairchild was being demolished, but while digging, they found skeletal remains. As the sisters return back to the place, memories surface as they remember their lives under Miss Fairchild.

This was an intense reading. Please note, there are mentions of child abuse, sexual abuse when you are reading this book and might be a bit of sensitive topic to some. But other than that, the story is compelling and fast paced. The story is told in the POVs of Norah, Jessica and Alicia, each of them dealing with the childhood trauma they faced while living with Miss Fairchild. The story gets more interesting and intriguing with the discovery of skeletal remains and the fact that it might belonged to one of the babies that Miss Fairchild used to foster while Norah, Jessica and Alicia were living also made it interesting. Then there are snippets of a psychiatrist interview on Miss Fairchild, talking about her own traumatic experience during her teenage years. However, the ending was what actually blew me away–the ending was completely unexpected that I couldn’t even expect the ending to be that way!

Overall, this was a great book by Sally Hepworth and this book is worth 4.5 stars–unputdownable and page turner with twists and turns and emotional and heartbreaking to read.

Sally Hepworth is the New York Times bestselling author of nine novels, most recently Darling Girls. Sally’s novels have been called “darkly charming” and praised by authors Emily Giffin and Liane Moriarty as “totally absorbing” and “fiction at its finest.”

Sally’s novels are available around the globe in English and have been translated into over 30 languages. She has sold over two million books worldwide.

Sally lives in Melbourne, Australia with her family. 

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls – ARC Book Review

Title:- Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

Author:- Grady Hendrix

Date published:- will be published on 14th January 2025

No. of pages:- 496 pages

Genre:- Horror/Fantasy/Witches

Rating:-

Plot:- 4/5

Writing:- 4/5

Overall rating:- 4/5

There’s power in a book…

They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.

Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who knows she’s going to go home and marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.

Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid…and it’s usually paid in blood.

In Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, the author of How to Sell a Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group delivers another searing, completely original novel and further cements his status as a “horror master” 

I have read so many Grady Hendrix books before and when I got the ARC of his latest novel, which will be released next year, I was so ecstatic!

The Witchcraft of Wayward Girls follows the story set in 1970–when abortion was illegal and underage pregnant girls were whisked to a place in Florida called The Home run by a Miss Wellwood. Neva is one of those girls when she was dropped off to the Home. Her name was changed to Fern and she meets other girls who are like herself–Holly, Zinnia and Rose. Miss Wellwood basically controls everything in the house–from what the girls eat to what the girls should do and read. When Fern comes across a book about the witchcraft, Fern and the three girls decide to use some of the spells mentioned in the book. The spells became successful but then while using these spells, comes a price as well…

This was quiet an interesting read actually. Nearly half of the book describes about the girls’ life in the house, particularly when they were forced to give up on their babies and controlling the things that they should eat and do. But when the girls start coming across the witchcraft book then things started to get interesting. Though the whole story was fictional, the situation that these girls faced when they become pregnant out of wedlock and underage was emotionally disturbing–the child birth scenes are also a bit disturbing to read as well. I am not sure if the early 1970’s were like that mentioned in the book but nonetheless, the author had done some research about the life of girls in the 1970’s. In my opinion, this was one of the author’s best books. This book portrays about how society has a way of dictating and controlling the women’s life in every possible way which makes it also sad that it used to be like that back in the early 1970’s.

Above all, besides the emotional and disturbing parts, there were funny parts as well. Though it is a horror book, there wasn’t much scary or jump scare moments in the book in my opinion.

I enjoyed reading this book and give 4 stars to this book.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

Grady Hendrix is the author of the novels Horrorstör, about a haunted IKEA, and My Best Friend’s Exorcism, which is like Beaches meets The Exorcist, only it’s set in the Eighties. He’s also the author of We Sold Our Souls, The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, and the upcoming (July 13!) Final Girl Support Group!

He’s also the jerk behind the Stoker award-winning Paperbacks from Hell, a history of the 70’s and 80’s horror paperback boom, which contains more information about Nazi leprechauns, killer babies, and evil cats than you probably need.

And he’s the screenwriter behind Mohawk, which is probably the only horror movie about the War of 1812 and Satanic Panic.

You can listen to free, amazing, and did I mention free podcasts of his fiction on Pseudopod. He also does a podcast called Super Scary Haunted Homeschool.

If you’re not already sick of him, you can learn all his secrets at his website.

Strange Sally Diamond – Book Review

Title:- Stange Sally Diamond

Author:- Liz Nugent

Date published;- July 18th 2023

No. of pages:- 384 pages

Genre:- Psychological thriller

Rating:-

Plot:- 5/5

Writing:- 4/5

Overall rating:- 4.5/5

Sally Diamond cannot understand why what she did was so strange. She was only doing what her father told her to do, to put him out with the rubbish when he died.

Now Sally is the centre of attention, not only from the hungry media and worried police, but also a sinister voice from a past she has no memory of. As she begins to discover the horrors of her childhood, recluse Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends, finding independence, and learning that people don’t always mean what they say.

But when messages start arriving from a stranger who knows far more about her past than she knows herself, Sally’s life will be thrown into chaos once again . . .

Sally Diamond doesn’t understand why everyone is making a big deal about what she has done. She has simply fulfilled her father’s wish of dumping his dead body into the dumpster. But soon, the news go around the world, about this incident and little did she know, Sally was adopted by the Diamonds when she was seven years old but she has no recollection of her childhood before she was seven years old. Little did she know, Sally is the infamous Mary Norton, whose mother Denise Norten was abducted when Denise was eleven years old by a man named Conor Greary. As Sally is trying to come to terms with her background, a man from across the world is trying to get in touch with Sally Diamond, threatening to destroy the new life Sally has maintained.

This was an interesting, emotional, disturbing and compelling story. Sally is a very interesting character, a character you kind of feel sympathize towards and a flawed person. Then we have another perspective character named Peter, who is also another flawed character with an unusual childhood upbringing. The book is unputdownable and fast paced. Quiet emotional to read as well. There are so many sensitive topics being discussed in this book–sexual abuse, child abuse, kidnapping a child, depression, rape…which to some readers could be disturbing to read. Nonetheless, the story was executed well, the writing style was great and above all, this was a great book in my opinion.

I highly recommend this book, and this book worth 4.5 stars.

Liz Nugent worked as a stage manager in theatres in Ireland and toured internationally before writing extensively for radio and television drama.

Unravelling Oliver was published in 2014, hit the number 1 spot for several weeks and won Crime Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards.

Lying in Wait, published in 2016, went straight to number 1 and was chosen for the Richard & Judy Book Club. It won the Radio 1 Ryan Tubridy Listeners Choice Award at the Irish Book Awards.

In October 2017, Liz won the Irish Tatler Woman of the Year Award in Literature.

Skin Deep was published in 2018. It also went straight to number 1 in the bestsellers charts and scooped two awards at the An Post Irish Book Awards in Nov ’18: Crime Novel of the Year AND the Radio 1 Ryan Tubridy Listener’s Choice Award.

Little Cruelties (Our Little Cruelties) was published in 2020. Another number 1 bestseller, it topped the charts for fifteen weeks, was nominated for Crime Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards, long listed for a CWA award at Theakston Crime Festival at Harrogate. It was listed as one of the most recommended thrillers of the Year by the New York Times.
Liz was presented with the James Joyce Medal for Literature (via Zoom!) in February 21 and was a Guest of Honour at Iceland Noir in November 21.

One More Lie – ARC Book Review

Title:- One More Lie

Author:- Sheryl Browne

Date published:- will be published on 18th November 2024

No. of pages:- 375 pages

Genre:- Psychological Thriller

Rating:-

Plot:- 4/5

Writing:- 4/5

Overall rating:- 4/5

My friends and I gather on the beach to celebrate the long summer ahead. Watching campfire embers dance into the inky sky, I don’t think I’ve ever been happier. Until a scream pierces the night. The next morning, we find shy newcomer Pippa on the beach, sandflies gathering on her lifeless body…

I told the police I didn’t see anything that night. I was young, scared, and full of guilt. I heard my friends telling the same story. It’s a lie that has haunted me ever since.

Now, twenty years later, on the anniversary of Pippa’s death, another one of our group is found dead. As we gather once again to say goodbye, I know it can’t be a coincidence. I look around at the tear-stained faces of my old school friends – people I thought I could trust – a protective hand on my growing belly. The police are asking questions again, and I have an impossible decision to make.

Do I tell one more lie, or confront my worst nightmare; that one of us is a killer, and one of us is next…

A group of friends goes out for a summer beach camp to celebrate for the summer. That night, there was a scream and the next morning, a body of a girl named Pippa was found by the sands. The friends stick to their story citing that they didn’t really know what happened and the police rule the death as accidental. Now twenty years later, another one of the members of the group dies. Again the friends tell the same lie but someone knows that they have been lying or a long time.

This was an interesting fast-paced thriller. The story is told in the POVs of Becky and Emelia and later on Jack. Becky suspects her husband Richie might be responsible for Pippa’s death twenty years ago and Emelia too suspect her own husband for Pippa’s death as well. Becky and Emelia knew that one of members of their group is responsible for Pippa’s death. The book is a page turner and there are some twists and turns along the storyline. The writing was great, putting the reader on the edge of the story. The ending was quiet unexpected.

Overall, this was an interesting unputdownable psychological thriller that will keep you up all night–worth 4.5 stars.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

Hi, I’m Sheryl Browne writing psychological thriller. My latest psychological thriller MY HUSBAND’S HOUSE is published by fabulous BOOKOUTURE. A member of the Crime Writers’ Association and the Romantic Novelists’ Association, I have several books published and two short stories in Birmingham City University anthologies, where I completed my MA in Creative Writing. I live in Worcestershire with my partner and a variety of disabled dogs. According to readers of my thrillers, I also apparently make an excellent psychopath. 😉 Follow my @Bookouture Mailing List and grab a FREE short: https://t.co/bIigwwALCs

Do Not Disturb – Book Review

Title:- Do Not Disturb

Author:- Freida McFadden

Date published:- September 7th 2021

No. of pages:- 325 pages

Genre:- Psychological thriller

Rating:-

Plot:- 5/5

Writing:- 4/5

Overall rating:- 4.5/5

Quinn Alexander has committed an unthinkable crime.

To avoid spending her life in prison, Quinn makes a run for it. She leaves behind her home, her job, and her family. She grabs her passport and heads for the northern border before the police can discover what she’s done.

But when an unexpected snowstorm forces her off the road, Quinn must take refuge at the broken-down, isolated Baxter Motel. The handsome and kindly owner, Nick Baxter, is only too happy to offer her a cheap room for the night.

Unfortunately, the Baxter Motel isn’t the quiet, safe haven it seemed to be. The motel has a dark and disturbing past. And in the dilapidated house across the way, the silhouette of Nick’s ailing wife is always at the window. Always watching.

In the morning, Quinn must leave the motel. She’ll pack up her belongings and get back on the road to freedom.

But first, she must survive the night.

Do Not Disturb is a Hitchcock-style psychological thriller that will keep you tearing through the pages until you reach the shocking conclusion!

I have been trying to read all of Freida McFadden books and this is one of the books that I actually read. This is the seventh Freida McFadden book I have read.

Do Not Disturb story follows a woman named Quinn Alexander, who flees from home after she murdered her husband Derek. She was driving through the snowstorm and decides to spend the night at a ramshackle motel Baxter Motel. Quinn gets a room to spend the night. But the motel has a disturbing past–someone was murdered just right next to the room where Quinn is spending the night. And not only that–right opposite the motel, the motel’s owner’s wife seem to be spending the time, watching the rooms, giving Quinn an uneasy and creepy feeling. Quinn has to spend only one ngiht and then she will be leaving the motel the first thing in the morning…

Like all Freida’s books, this was fast-paced, unputdownable and page turner. One of the things I like about her books is, unlike most books, there are no useless descriptions and that the story is pretty much straight-forward. Despite the fact that this is a thriller, there is sort of a horror vibe in the book as well. I did enjoy this book and couldn’t put the book down. The book is packed with twists and turns and the ending took a complete unexpected turn. Let’s just say, like most of Freida’s books, the woman was the antagonist (little spoiler alert)

This book happened to be one of the Freida’s best books I have read. I will be piling up a list of Freida McFadden’s books from least favorite to most favorite. Do Not Disturb worth 4.5 stars.

Just Another Missing Person – Book Review

Title:- Just Another Missing Person

Author:- Gillian McAllister

Date published:- August 1st 2023

No. of pages:- 377 pages

Genre:- Thriller

Rating:-

Plot:- 4/5

Writing:- 4/5

Overall rating:- 4/5

From the author of the Reese’s Book Club Pick and the New York Times bestseller Wrong Place Wrong Time comes a new heart-stopping thriller in which a missing-person case unravels deeper, darker secrets that lead a detective to an impossible moral choice.

22-year-old Olivia has been missing for one day…and counting. She was last seen on CCTV, entering a dead-end alley. And not coming back out again.

Julia, the detective heading up the search for Olivia, thinks she knows what to expect. A desperate family, a ticking clock, and long hours away from her husband and daughter. But she has no idea just how close to home this case is going to get.

Because the criminal at the heart of the disappearance has something she never expected. His weapon isn’t a gun, or a knife: it’s a secret. Her worst one. And her family’s safety depends on one thing: Julia must NOT find out what happened to Olivia – and must frame somebody else for her murder.

If you find her, you will lose everything. What would you do?

This clever and endlessly surprising thriller is laced with a smart look at family and motherhood, and cements Gillian McAllister as a major talent in the world of suspense and a master of creating ethical dilemmas that show just how murky the distinction between right and wrong can be.

Nearly a year ago, Julia’s daughter Genevieve accidentally injured a boy named Zac who then later on died from sepsis. Julia kept the incident hidden particularly from her husband. Now in the present day, a woman named Olivia mysteriously disappeared in the alley. As Julia is investigating the case, a man blackmails her–saying that he knows what happened with Zac and if she didn’t plant the incriminating evidence against a man named Matthew, then the whole world will know about what happened to Zac. Julia would do anything to protect her daughter and that was what she did although, as she investigates, there is something hiding behind the case…

This was a fast paced thriller. The story is told in the POVs of Julia, Lewis and Emma who each tell their own version of the story. The book is well written, making the reader feel like they are watching an action packed thriller on TV. The twists throughout the book and turns were all unexpected, which made the book an interesting to read. Though this book wasn’t great as Wrong Place Wrong Time, the whole story line kept the reader hooked into the story. Worth 4 stars in my opinion.

The Storied Life of AJ Fikry – Book Review

Title:- The Storied Life of AJ Fikry

Author:- Gabrielle Zevin

Date published:- April 1st 2014

No. of pages:- 260 pages

Genre:- Contemporary

Rating:-

Plot:- 5/5

Writing:- 5/5

Overall rating:- 5/5

On the faded Island Books sign hanging over the porch of the Victorian cottage is the motto “No Man Is an Island; Every Book Is a World.” A. J. Fikry, the irascible owner, is about to discover just what that truly means.

A. J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. Slowly but surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island—from Lambiase, the well-intentioned police officer who’s always felt kindly toward Fikry; from Ismay, his sister-in-law who is hell-bent on saving him from his dreary self; from Amelia, the lovely and idealistic (if eccentric) Knightley Press sales rep who keeps on taking the ferry over to Alice Island, refusing to be deterred by A.J.’s bad attitude. Even the books in his store have stopped holding pleasure for him. These days, A.J. can only see them as a sign of a world that is changing too rapidly.

And then a mysterious package appears at the bookstore. It’s a small package, but large in weight. It’s that unexpected arrival that gives A. J. Fikry the opportunity to make his life over, the ability to see everything anew. It doesn’t take long for the locals to notice the change overcoming A.J.; or for that determined sales rep, Amelia, to see her curmudgeonly client in a new light; or for the wisdom of all those books to become again the lifeblood of A.J.’s world; or for everything to twist again into a version of his life that he didn’t see coming. As surprising as it is moving, The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry is an unforgettable tale of transformation and second chances, an irresistible affirmation of why we read, and why we love.

Have you read Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow? If you have, I strongly recommend you to read The Storied Life of AJ Fikry, which in my opinion is better than Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow!

AJ Fikry owns a bookstore in an island named Alice, the only bookstore in the island. His wife passed away and he gets along well with each member of the community in the island. He gets a surprise, when he finds a crib with a baby girl in it. The note left by her mother asks him to look after the baby. The girl’s name is Maya and soon the story begins–the emotional relationship between AJ Fikry and Maya.

As I said, I actually enjoyed reading this book more than I did with Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow. This to me is an emotional and heartbreaking read. The character of AJ Fikry is an interesting character and I like how over the years, his relationship with Maya as well as Amelia improves over the years. The story overall is well written. Not only that–there are some parts hat would actually make you cry but at the same time there are funny parts in the book as well. Overall I actually enjoyed reading this book and would give five stars.

The Pumpkin Spice Cafe- Dream Harbor Book 1 – Book Review

Title:- The Pumpkin Spice Cafe

Author:- Laurie Gilmore

Date published:- August 30th 2023

No. of pages:- 286 pages

Genre:- Romance/Mystery

Rating:-

Plot:- 3/5

Writing:- 3/5

Overall rating:- 3/5

A spicy small-town romance and TikTok phenomenon, perfect for fans of Hannah Grace and Stephanie Archer.

When Jeanie’s aunt gifts her the beloved Pumpkin Spice Café in the small town of Dream Harbor, Jeanie jumps at the chance for a fresh start away from her very dull desk job.

Logan is a local farmer who avoids Dream Harbor’s gossip at all costs. But Jeanie’s arrival disrupts Logan’s routine and he wants nothing to do with the irritatingly upbeat new girl, except that he finds himself inexplicably drawn to her.

Will Jeanie’s happy-go-lucky attitude win over the grumpy-but-gorgeous Logan, or has this city girl found the one person in town who won’t fall for her charm, or her pumpkin spice lattes…

The Pumpkin Spice Café is a cozy romantic mystery for fans of Gilmore Girls, with a grumpy x sunshine dynamic, a small-town setting and a HEA guaranteed!

If you have watched Gilmore Girls and loved the series, then you may like this book too, as the story is set in a small fictional town called Dream Harbor.

Jeanie inherits a cafe named Pumpkin Spice Cafe after her aunt Dot leaves the cafe behind to her. Jeanie wanted to leave behind her old life after an incident at work. While trying to learn how to run the cafe, she meets a handsome farmer Logan. Logan himself had his heart broken by a girl named Lucy and even though he has feelings towards Jeanie. While Jeanie is getting used to the small town life, someone doesn’t want Jeanie to run the cafe…

This is a cute cozy mystery and romance novel. It does have a small Gilmore Girl vibe. However the pacing was slightly slow, making this book slightly boring to read. This book might be a perfect book to read during the fall season. This is the first book of the Dream Harbor series. I thought the whole story was predictable, the same romance outline. Overall, this wasn’t a great book but not really bad either. Worth three stars.

The Last Agent in Paris – Book Blog Tour

Title:- The Last Agent in Paris

Author:- Sharon Maas

Date published:- 6th November 2024

No. of pages:- 438 pages

Genre:- Historical fiction

Rating:-

Plot:- 5/5

Writing:- 5/5

Overall rating:- 5/5

As the bombs rained down on Paris, my family fled before the Nazis could take us. I never thought I’d see my beloved home again. But I’ve come back to fight for the people I love. And now, I’m the last agent standing. The freedom of the world rests on my shoulders.

Paris, 1940. As Nazi soldiers march down the Champs Elysees, Noor’s heart is shattered. Her family is forced to flee their home to the safety of England, and as Noor watches the French coast disappear in the distance, she vows to do everything she can to stop Germany from devouring her beloved country.

Training as a wireless operative in England, Noor’s perfect French makes her the ideal candidate for undercover work in her beloved Paris, and she is soon assigned to an illustrious spy network led by a mysterious man named Prosper.

Day after day, Noor walks the treacherous streets of Paris looking for safe places to broadcast messages to London. But Nazi officers lurk around every corner, and Noor’s heart thunders in her chest as she evades detection, tightly clutching the briefcase containing her radio equipment. She knows it would take just one stop and search for her life to be over.

With each passing day her mission becomes more lethal as, one by one, her fellow agents are captured. Someone is betraying them, but who? And when Noor becomes the last agent in the network, can she keep the links with England alive, to help win the war?

An utterly gripping and emotional World War 2 novel inspired by the incredible true story of Noor Inayat Khan, the first female radio operator sent by SOE into Nazi-occupied France. Fans of Suzanne Goldring, Ellie Midwood and Siobhan Curran will be swept away.

The Last Agent in Paris is about a brave and courageous woman named Noor Khan who is working as an undercover for British in France. The whole story is a historical account of this young brave woman who sacrificed her own life to serve her country.

The story is well researched and well written. And it is also quiet engaging as well. Noor is half-Indian half American and her heritage makes it an advantage to work as an undercover. The middle part of the story is gripping and interesting, nearly putting you on the edge when Noor was finally caught by the Nazis and Gestapo and questioned by a man named Voigt. France is Noor’s home and the thought of her own country being ruined by the Nazis was too much for Noor. One rare thing about this is in most WWII historical fiction, the story starts two years prior to WWII but in this case, the story starts somewhere in 1914 when Noor was born, detailing her childhood in France, her courtships, her father’s untimely death and how she managed to help her mother and sister escape to England.

Overall, this book is an emotional roller coaster ride–heartbreaking moments and the ending of the book was actually sad. Noor Khan is an inspiration to many women out there and a brave and courageous one in fact. Worth five stars.

Many thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Many thanks to Bookouture for inviting me to be a part of this blog tour.

Sharon Maas was born to politically active parents in Georgetown, Guyana, in 1951. She was educated in England, Guyana, and, later, Germany. After leaving school, she worked as a reporter with the Guyana Graphic in Georgetown and later wrote feature articles for the Sunday Chronicle as a staff journalist. Sharon has always had a great sense of adventure and curiosity about the world we live in, and Guyana could not hold her for long. In 1971 she set off on a year-long backpacking trip around South America, followed by an overland trek to South India, where she spent two years in an ashram. She lived in Germany for forty-three years and now lives in Ireland. She is the author of The Violin Maker’s Daughter, The Soldier’s Girl, Her Darkest Hour and many other novels.

https://www.sharonmaas.com/
https://www.instagram.com/sharonmaaswriter/

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